Gustavus Adolphus Chunn

Gustavus Adolphus
Chunn was born of English descent in Falkville, Blount
County, Alabama, on July 23, 1838, to Lancelot Chunn IV and
Lucenda Ann H. Yeager. Attending Blount College in
Blountsville, Alabama, G. A. was a very
distinquished-looking young man and was short in stature. In
Cullman County, Alabama, on December 1, 1878, he married
Martha Ann Oaks, daughter of Joshua and Mary E. A. J. Holmes
of the Morgan and Cullman County areas of Alabama. Gustavus
and Martha had a large family of children including James
Lawson, Alvis Walker, Charles Walter, Dora, Benjamin, Mary
R., Frederick, George Washington, Mary Alice, Claude E.,
Hattie, Crawford Alex, Floyd Hebron, Allen, and Horace
E. Rev. Chunn was an ordained Baptist minister whose
ministry included several area churches. He ministered in
Trion, Georgia, in 1905. Then in 1908, he took the part-time
pastorate of the newly organized East Lake Baptist Church.
G. A.'s picture hung in the library at East Lake Baptist for
many years along with it's various other pastors who served
over the years. In 1910 he added a second part-time
pastorate, Ridgedale Baptist Church, which was
located further down Dodds Avenue near the McCallie campus.
During this time Ridgedale had 52 members, and Rev.
Chunn's salary there was $360 a year. In the following year,
the well-respected pastor left East Lake to lead Ridgedale
full-time. In 1911 the church had 82 members, and his annual
salary of $760 was partially paid by the Home Mission Board.
In 1912 Rev. Chunn took a pastorate in Rockwood, Tennessee.
Two years later, he pastored in Monterey, Tennessee, and in
1916 he retired from active church work. The Rev. Chunn
died on December 29, 1928, and he and Martha are buried
in Chattanooga Memorial Park on Memorial Drive in White
Oak. Several of their descendants remain in the Chattanooga
area.